Ma Lao and his friend Li Zhi (left).
Ma Lao studied the oracle bone notes manuscript.
"People's Literature" once published Ma Zhitu's satirical novel "The Most Capable Man".
Whether it is the harsh winter of snow flying outside the window or the spring of green leaves and red flowers, Ma Zhitu, now 107 years old, spends most of his time in the study of his home in Chengdu. Write calligraphy, read newspapers, write something. Although he has reached the age of 107, his spirit is still active. He will also encounter the attack of illness and endure the urge of aging, but this has not resisted his exploration and pursuit of the world as always. "A miracle of life", everyone who approaches Ma Lao is touched by his exuberant vitality.
Ma Lao's birthday is this day
To make friends "fight the gang"
One day at the end of March 2021, Ma Lao, wearing a plaid shirt and in good spirits, saw the cover reporter who came to visit and said with a smile, "The Tenth National Congress of the Chinese Writers Association held in Beijing in October this year, I would like to attend, and by the way, I will meet old friends who have not been seen for a long time." "Although his eyesight and hearing are affected by age, reading requires wearing glasses and holding reading glasses, he is full of energy and can feel warm and powerful when shaking hands."
Also visiting with the cover reporter was Ma Lao's long-time friend and writer Li Zhi. Every year on the third day of the first lunar month, on the birthday of Elder Ma, Li Zhi, Wang Huo and several other close friends will gather with Elder Ma to "fight the gang" for dinner. In 2021, Ma Lao's birthday, because of the epidemic prevention and control, the annual party was cancelled, but 92-year-old Li Zhi and several other friends still went to Ma Lao's home to celebrate Ma Lao's birthday. Li Zhi's body is still relatively tough. Wang Huo, 97 years old this year, is slightly weaker, because he was hospitalized for treatment because of heart problems. Every time my old friend went to visit Ma Lao, it was in the morning. After 9 o'clock, he appeared in Ma Laojia on time. "When I visit Ma Lao, I always have a good grasp of the time. Because Ma was old, he couldn't bother him too much. Usually I visit him and stay for an hour. Li Zhi said.
A few years ago, Li Zhi moved to a new home, and Ma Lao wrote him a calligraphy couplet: "I was poor and clean-handed, and I boasted of the rich and full of books in my life." Seeing Li Zhi, Ma Lao remembered this couplet and told Li Zhi that he had rewritten another pair, changing the phrase "a lifetime of poverty and clean hands" to "a lifetime of poverty and many friends". He patiently explained to Li Zhi why he wanted to change it, and the meanings of "qing" and "clean" in "I Qing Poor Hands Clean" are similar, and he has committed the taboo of "combining palms". Write couplets, pay attention to the use of limited words, express as rich as possible content. The sentences and pairs of pairs in a couplet are called "clapping" if they are completely synonymous or basically synonymous. After the explanation, he also asked Li Zhi's opinion many times, "Do you think it is okay?" Li Zhi replied, "Good, very good, thank you Ma Lao!" Ma Lao's so refined, modest and cautious also made Li Zhi very touched and admired.
Outside of studying Chinese characters
Calligraphy is also Ma Lao's favorite
In January 1915, Ma Zhitu was born in the "Majia Compound" on the Yangtze River in Chongqing Zhong County, next to Shibaozhai, which is a four-corner head compound. Ma Zhitu's father, Ma Yuzhi, served as the county magistrate of Hongya County and Dayi County, the director of the Regiment Training Bureau of Zhong County, and the chairman of the county senate. As a child, Ma Zhitu read ancient books and learned Chinese at a private school run by the ancestral hall of the family, and was deeply immersed in traditional culture. In the early 1930s, following the teaching that "the sixteen children of the family must go out of the gorge", Ma Zhitu was "thrown out" of the Three Gorges by his father Ma Yuzhi, went out of the gate, and went to Beiping to study, seeking a way to save the country. Ma Zhitu, who was only 16 years old at the time, wrote Qu Yuan's poem in his diary: "The road is long and its cultivation is far away, and I will seek up and down" to encourage myself.
The glory years go, the peace years come. Ma Lao, who spent his old age in peace, traveled through the long years and continued the unfinished literary research, calligraphy hobbies, and traditional poems that he had not completed in his youth and adulthood.
With his strong memory, he compiled the notes of Tang Lan's lecture on "Explaining Words and Characters" when he was studying at Southwest United University more than 70 years ago, plus his own understanding, into a "Notes on oracle bones of Ma Zhitu Southwest United University". In addition to studying the evolution of Chinese characters, especially the oracle bone, calligraphy is also another favorite of Ma Lao. In 2005, 2014 and 2018, Ma Lao was invited to Beijing three times to hold a personal calligraphy exhibition, and his reputation was very high. In the October 2018 exhibition, Ma Lao, who was 104 years old at the time, also took a train to Beijing to attend. In June 2021, Ma Lao will also hold a personal calligraphy exhibition in Chongqing to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC. Elder Ma said, "If my physical condition allows, I also want to go to the scene." ”
After the closure is announced
Ma Lao still had the story he wanted to write in his heart
Although Ma Lao has repeatedly emphasized that his profession is a revolutionary and his literary writing is amateur, in fact, he has always had a good pursuit of literature. Ma Zhitu's path of literary creation began as early as the southwest United University period. Later, because of the needs of the revolution, he suspended his literary dream. In 1959, The editor-in-chief and writer Sha Ting of Sichuan Literature found Ma Zhitu and wrote an article about the tenth anniversary of the founding of New China, "Old Third Sister", which was reprinted by "People's Literature" after publication, and since then he has resumed his path of literary creation. Since then, he has written a large number of excellent works, especially the "Ten Notes of the Night" series, which has been well received by readers and critics.
On July 5, 2020, Ma Zhitu released "Confession of Sealed Pen", announcing that he would no longer create. But in fact, Ma Lao still has a story in his heart and an unfinished wish to write. In this interview, Ma Lao mentioned one of his unfinished works. The matter also began in 1961, when Ma Zhitu's satirical novel "The Most Capable Man" was headlined by Chen Baichen, a writer who was then the deputy editor-in-chief of "People's Literature". Mao Dun saw that the satirical novel was originally an important part of literature, and everyone did not want to write it, and now some people have begun to write it. After the reform and opening up, Ma Zhitu once again encountered Chen Baichen. Chen Baichen asked him, "What about the 'most capable person' you wrote?" Ma Zhitu replied, "Of course, there is a better way." Chen Baichen said, "Well, you wrote a book about 'people with more means.'" I will make a plan for you: the people who have the least means, the people who have no means, the people who have few ways, the people who really have the means, the people who have the most ways, five chapters, chapter by chapter, written as the 'way' family. ”
But Ma Lao, who was engaged in administrative work, was busy with official duties, "I have no time to finish it." Therefore, only the first article of "The Most Capable Man" was published. At the mention of this, Ma Lao's tone was difficult to hide regret, "At that time, there was still a concern that this series was set up as a satirical novel. If you write 'someone who really has a way', it is a person who is really worthy of admiration, and it is ironic. So I wrote seventy or eighty thousand words and put it down. Recently my daughter helped me find part of this manuscript on my computer, but I've always wanted to finish it. I would like to write about the experiences of some people I met in the special era and my own interactions with them, and I want to write about the group of reform and opening up, the people who really helped China become prosperous and strong, they are people who really have a way. ”
The famous literary critic Li Jingze once said, "Ma Lao is a very broad writer. The bullets flew in the Dragon Gate Array for a hundred years, and they are still full of vitality and strength. In his opinion, although Ma Lao has announced the closure of the pen, he knows that Ma Lao still has a story that has not been written, "I believe that Ma Lao will continue to write, because he still has bullets in his gun and always has to fight out." Let's look forward to Ma Lao's new good works. ”
Source: West China Metropolis Daily